The four siblings were in the kitchen and sat around a table full of culinary delights. Gordon approached them, however, he didn't wear his Codexian armor. Instead, he wore a white shirt, blue jeans, and brown Timberland boots.
"Wow!" responded a baffled Harrison.
"May I join you?" he gestured at the chair.
"No problem," Sam replied with a smile.
He sat beside Diana, she desired to distance herself from him though. However, given the lengths he went to help them escape from Seth's ship, she suppressed her feelings and held firmly onto her fork. Instantly, she contorted the object in half with little to no effort. It's almost as if the fork had properties similar to a thin twig. She hid the item in her pocket and used her hands to grab the bacon slices on her plate.
"You clean up well," replied Sam, directing his gaze to Gordon.
In response, Gordon looked back at him with a baffled expression.
"Was I not clean before?" He inquired, lifting his right brow and grabbing the slabs of bacon, as well as the sausage and eggs. He placed them on one slice of bread and sandwiched them with another slice on top. He grabbed the sandwich and shoved it into his mouth.
"No, that's not what I mean," replied Sam.
"He means that it's good to see you out of your armor, " Harrison said.
"Ohh, is that so? Well, apologies. It's just that the people of this world speak uncannily. It's no wonder why you've all become accustomed to such utterance, " Gordon said.
Dan stopped dicing through a slab of steak with his knife. He directed his gaze at Gordon and narrowed his brows, "Wait, so you see Codexians as superior to humans?!"
After devouring the sandwich mercilessly, he reached his hand out to a plate full of croissants stacked in a pyramid-like form. He grabbed one and took a bite from it, he experienced a heavenly sensation melting softly into his taste buds. It was a flavor unlike another; with a hypnotizing odur that would tempt a man deep in prayer to hastily break his ritual, all for that one precious bite.
"Yes, but this world seems to produce exquisite deluctibles," he grinned.
Dan's body produced steam, and his eyes began to twitch. Diana noticed this and placed her hand gently on his wrist, "Dan, please calm down. Don't let him crawl under your skin.
Dan took a series of breathing exercises, and the steam that emanated from his body vanished.
"There's more to this world than meets the eye," he said with a stern voice.
"Even so, you four are not from this world. Never forget your true heritage," Gordon said.
Now realizing that tension was building up, Sam cleared his throat. He placed the top of his fist toward his mouth and said," Harrison has something to say."
Their attention was now directed to the young lad, "You know I've been thinking. I wanna go back home and see my parents."
"And why would you want to do that?" Diana asked.
"Ah, c'mon guys! We've escaped death a couple of times. You mean to tell me that there's nothing of sentimental value that you wanna fo?" he replied.
"The kid's gotta a point. I have a farm to protect, Diana you have a music career to launch. And as for you, Sam, you need to finish your project. As comforting as it is to stay, however, we got a lot of responsibilities that we need to attend to," Dan said, pointing at each of them.
Diana nodded, "Your right. Though I'm currently working from home, I cannot stay away from work forever. Eventually, they will call me in."
Sam sighed and said, "Fine! I understand, but please promise me that you will stay out of trouble."
"Yeah, yeah, yeah, we promise!" Dan replied while Gordon stuffed himself with food.
**********
A car is parked in front of Harrison's doorstep. He opened the door from the back seat and climbed out. The driver then got out of the vehicle and rushed to the trunk to help him with his luggage.
Once the driver opened the trunk, Harrison pulled his suitcase out and dragged it along the sidewalk with the spinner wheels fully swiveling. He stood in front of the doorstep and grabbed the door knob. He twisted the kob and opened the door. Once he entered, he hauled the suitcase with him inside the house and shut the door from behind.
"Mom, Dad! I'm home!"
It didn't take long for his father to reply, "Harry, is that you."
As he descended the stairway, footsteps reverberated from above. Once he reached the floor, he approached his son with haste and embraced him. He also gave him a pat on the back.
"Heh, heh, Harry! It's so good to see you. How did it go?"
"It was good, I'm just glad that I completed my internship after a lot of ups and downs!"
"Is that you Harrison?" A soft, angelic voice called out to him from the kitchen.
"Yep, it's me, the one and only!"
She emerged from the kitchen cleaning a glass drinkware dry with a cloth. She approached him and embraced him after his father. She released him from her warm, welcoming, and tight clutches.
"Are back for good, kiddo?" She inquired.
"Yep," he replied.
She embraced him once more and kissed him on the cheek.
"And guess what? You're just in time for dinner. I have prepared your favorite...Chicken scampi pasta."
"Sweet, I can't wait!
*************
Meanwhile in Dallas Texas. A local cab parked in front of two fields of corn on the side of the road. Dan was inside the vehicle, he placed earbuds in his ears. Since the latter was deeply engrossed in the tune of the music playing, he failed to pay mind to his surroundings.
Although that was the case, his driver did not. The curious driver peered through the window of the left door and bore witness to a dreadful sight. The two crop fields were covered in flames.
Savagely, the ravenous flames devoured through each corn plant without hesitance.
"Hey man, your house is on fire!" he exclaimed and turned his back against his seat to face him. He then tapped him on the shoulder and continued shouting, "Hey, hey, farm boy! Your place is on fire!
He pulled out the earbuds from his lobes and raised his right brow with intrigue," hmm?"
"I've been shouting my lungs out, what the hell is wrong with you?" The driver shouted.
"Hey, what gives!" A disgruntled Dan responded.
"You're saying what gives? Nigga, are you for real! Don't be mad at me when your animals get barbecued! You'll be having them for dinner, I'm telling you, homeboy!"
When Dan looked through the window, he saw a monstrous blaze burning through his fields. "Oh, shit! Why didn't you say anything!" Dan shouted back at the driver.
"I did fool, but it ain't my fault that you were all Michael Jackson in my car when I called you!"
"Call 911 now!" Dan instructed.
Dan then opened the door with force, nearly knocking the door down in the process. With speed similar to a Bugatti Chiron, he breezed out of the vehicle and stumbled upon the gravel pathway sandwiched by the fiery fields of corn. Unable to digest the events that unfolded before his eyes, he placed his hands on his head and gaped his mouth. As the flames grew wilder from their consumption, smoke emanated from the tendrils and ascended to the clouds.
Meanwhile, the taxi driver took his phone out of his pocket and dialed the intended number, "This is the fire department, how can we help you?"
"Ey, man there's an emergency. The Reese farm is on fire, we need a fire truck right now!!!"
"Where is the farm?" the individual behind the call inquired.
"In Dallas, along the countryside!" The driver exclaimed.
"We will send our team right now!"The individual responded.
Dan looked around. Although the latter was perplexed, however, his rage flashed out of the bloom like a shooting star. He punched the ground with force, thus carving a hole through the ground.
"Who did this? Who is the fucker that this?!" He looked up and directed his gaze toward his house as revelation daunted him, "The barn!"
He took off from the ground and flew toward the barn. As soon as he landed in front of the building and the house, the two structures were also engulfed with flames. They devoured the wood structure and bricks. Within time, pieces of the ceiling fell from the roof and collided against the ground. Cracks accompanied by a black hue formed; and soon, they broke apart.
"No! No! No! Nooo!" he bellowed.
In an attempt to recover the rest of his parents' belongings, he barged inside the house. He coughed because there was a lot of smoke inside. Some chunks of the ceiling fell on his back. Fortunately, his durability spared him from an agonizing pain.
He spotted his parents' portrait from a distance. He snatched up the photo and stormed out of the building. Ash blanketed him, leaving specks on his clothes and parts of his face.
He then moved to the back of the ban, where he filled the bucket with water. He then stormed into the barn, however, a travesty awaited him. There was wailing all around as the intense heat burned through the flesh of his horses, chickens, and cows.
Much to his dismay, some of the animals were scorched to death. In a desperate attempt to extinguish the ravenous flames, he poured water everywhere, but the fearsome blaze was aggravated. It grew even wilder as if he had fed it with fuel.
"Nooo! My babies!!!" He wailed with frustration.
************
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Diana arrived at a nearby hotel. As soon as she entered her room, she threw her purse across her room and fell on her bed.
"Urg, I hate traveling," she murmured.
Right as she closed her eyes, her phone rang. She rolled her eyes and sighed, "Great, what now?!"
She reached for her right pocket and pulled the device out. She placed it next to her right ear, "Hello!"
"Eh, hey, Diana it's Bob. There's an emergency at the studio, you need to come quickly!"
"What emergency?" She inquired and sat up.
Bob raised his voice with frustration, "The studio, Diana...It's on fire! Plus some people are trapped inside the building!"
Her balls widened with great proportion, "What! Wait Bob what do you mean..."
He dropped the call, leaving her dumbstruck.
**********
20 minutes later
She rushed to the parking lot of the studio. In front of the building, a large crowd stood in alarm.
"No why is this happening to me?" She murmured as she pushed through the crowd. She managed to push through them until she stood in front of the building, alongside Bob, and Mr. Maynard.
Fortunately, there was a fire truck, and on it, a firefighter directed the horse pipe to the third floor. The firefighter was supported by a ladder. In doing so, more troops were inside the building; doing everything in their power to rescue the people who were trapped inside the building, while extinguishing the flames.
"What happened here?" Diana inquired as she turned to face Mr. Myanard.
He looked at her and golly, his face was pale. The edges of his eyes were red and moist.
As he spoke, his voice cracked with despondence, "Today, our regular maintenance staff was replaced by a new one. They came by earlier on to do their work. After they left, the sprinkler system turned on and there was smoke. That's how we figured that the building was on fire."
She placed her hand on her face and raked a portion of her skin. She sighed and inquired, "What about our equipment?"
"Unfortunately, we didn't have enough time to rescue our equipment and resources. All our hard work... is gone," he croaked voice.
She moved away as a tear drizzled from her eye. She stroked her hair backward while her throat throbbed in pain.